The Make-Up
by onetruelove23
Summary: Takes place after 3x02 when Maura and Jane were trapped in the reservoir. This is my version of their make-up...Enjoy! Disclaimer: Characters belong to Tess Gerritsen and Rizzoli and Isles.


_"You stayed with her..." Korsak says, helping Maura out of her side of the car and down the bed of the reservoir. _

_ "I wouldn't leave her..." While climbing out of the window of the unmarked and over the top of it, careful to avoid the water, I think about how true this is. No matter what, nothing could make me give up on how I feel about Maura, even if she hates me for the rest of my life._

__ After the incredibly long day that I've had, Frankie and Tommy unload me onto my bed with Angela's supervision.

"CAREFUL, BOYS! Don't hurt her!" They finally get me set up with water on my nightstand, my TV on, and my leg propped up on some pillows.

"I'm fine, Angela. I promise. They did great." I smile as warmly as I can up at all of them given my current state of distress. _Where's Jane?_ My curiosity is too great, so I let my internal question come forth. "Do you know where Jane is?" Tommy and Frankie both look down sheepishly, scratching their heads to signify that they don't know (or that they don't want to tell me) before leaving the room. Angela finally responds, after a few short moments of silence.

"I think that Jane was planning on distancing herself for a while...She's like me; she's afraid you two won't ever work this out." Angela walks over to my side of the bed to plant a kiss on the crown of my head, as if to say 'I wish you would...' I smile at her before she continues. "Would you like me to find her for you?"

"Oh, no! I mean-No, thank you Angela, but I guess I need to fix this myself." She nods out of understanding, saying good night and I love you before heading to the guest house. She also makes it clear to me to call her if I need anything. I appreciate her offer, but right now I need to see my friend. _If she even still wants to be friends._ I pull out my iPhone, dialing the number that I know by heart and hesitating only momentarily before hitting the Call button.

Lying in my bed at an incredibly early time of the evening is doing nothing but increasing my sleeplessness. I moan loudly, flipping onto my stomach and burying my head into the pillow. _I wonder if Maura's doing okay..._I sigh sadly, realizing that everything is hopeless at this point. _Maura hates me, and the only way she would talk to me is because I was the only person who could save her life. _I suddenly feel tears streaming my face, and I instantly curse myself over and over. _I am the worst person ever...I should let Korsak and Frost talk to Maura from now on. There's no way I'll win her back as my friend...and I cannot stand to think about my feelings for her while she despises me on top of that._

Just then, I hear my phone vibrating on the nightstand. I, again, groan loudly, assuming it's a homicide. I let it go until the last possible second, reaching over and accepting the call without even opening my eyes. "Rizzoli...This better be a call informing me of the murder of the President if you expect me to get up right now."

"Jane..." Upon hearing the familiar voice, I sit straight up in my bed and instantly am alert. I don't even realize that I need to respond, and it's taken as ignoring. "Jane, please don't shut me out again. I think we need to sort some things out. I can't sleep right now, and I know you weren't either. Come over, please?"

I cannot form words to respond to this question. _She wants me to come over? _I run my hand through my hair and bend over, resting my torso on my knees. I wait so long that I'm surprised that Maura is still on the line as I respond with a weak and clearly timid voice.

"I'll be right over..." I hang up and throw my phone on the bed, more tears cascading down my cheeks and dripping onto my lap. Sobs shake their way through me as I process what the true penalty will be if I cannot make amends with Maura. _What if she just wants me over to tell me never to talk to her again and that she's transferring to Cambridge or some other medical examiner's office so I don't have to hear it from someone else?_ I stand up and grab my coat, phone, and keys before heading out the door, the tears not slowing down even slightly, not even when I reach up and knock on the familiar, Beacon Hill home's door.

In about ten minutes, I hear a knock so soft that I feel I imagined it, but when I hear another one a few moments later, I realize it was real and walk to the door, using my crutches. I open the door, standing face to face with someone whom I love more than anyone else in this world yet whom I have been the farthest from emotionally for the past month. Jane.

She has one hand in the pocket of her black trench coat that she is wearing over a light blue t-shirt and black yoga pants while the other is nervously running through her hair. _That's definitely her tell._ After meeting my eye contact, she looks down again, and my sight has finally adjusted to where I can see her more clearly. Her eyes are bloodshot and slightly puffy, and her entire face is blotchy with the evidence of tears that had been shed for at least a few hours. I try to maintain my cool as I look at her, but I feel myself uncharacteristically longing to be the consoler and to wrap my arms around Jane in order to convince her everything is going to be okay.

"Please come in, Jane..." I turn around and limp back to the kitchen counter, sitting down on the first bar stool and laying my crutches on the ground beside me. Jane walks over slowly, still looking down but now putting her hands against the counter and standing diagonal from me.

Her voice is hoarse and incredibly small when she responds, and it yanks on my heart strings very strongly. "How's your leg?" She looks straight at my espresso maker, and her tone indicates to me that she is trying not to cry. I reach for her hand like I normally would have before this big dispute without really thinking of it, laying mine on top of hers. I don't know if I am trying to comfort her or if it is my own selfish desire to be closer to my best friend or what, but I don't draw back, and neither does she.

"Good...I cannot thank you enough, Jane...for what you did..." I squeeze her hand with mine reassuringly.

"It's not a big deal...You would have done the same for me..." She brushes a tear out from under her eye with her free hand. "Maybe with more precision, though..." At that, I let out a small chuckle.

"Jane..." I shake my head back and forth, feeling like it's sort of back to normal...but then I remember what we need to talk about. I remember how much of an asshole I've been the past month to her simply because she acted in self-defense and, when I think about it, the defense of those who matter most to her. I remember the fact that I haven't even asked her about Angela and Frank and the annulment that I overheard talk of. I just remember _everything._ I put my other hand over my eyes, allowing my tear ducts to contract with a sudden burst followed by violent sobbing. "I'm so sorry."

The Jane that has always been my best friend and biggest advocate is around the counter and wrapping her arms around me in an instant, my head pressing against her chest with one of her arms around my shoulders and the other stroking my hair gently. She kisses the top of my head lightly, not speaking and just holding me. She knows exactly what I'm feeling inside right now, so bare and vulnerable: an open book. I feel the need to speak, the silence eating me alive from the inside out. "I-I've missed you." I continue to cry without making a sound, awaiting her response with dread filling my heart at what she might say. _She's probably done with me...This consolation is surely just out of pity._

My instinctive thoughts were expecting Jane's response to be harsh and cold compared to mine, but those thoughts are completely shattered when she speaks. "I can't live without you any longer, Maura, and I don't mean just going back to the way we were, if you'll even allow me of that. I mean that I need to finally act on the emotions that I've kept bottled up since the first day I met you."

"What emotions?" I sniffle sadly, pulling away from her finally and letting her move back to where she was standing originally.

She sighs deeply, looking down and speaking without any emotion crossing her face. It's just another one of her tells; I know she's still battling tears. She's much stronger than I am in that realm, at least in front of other people. "I've had weird feelings for you since we met in the bullpen and you were introduced as my new Forensics lab partner...They were so strange that I finally just had to convince myself that it was because of how close we got so soon and that our friendship was different from any I had ever had...and that was partially true...I realized in the hospital after the shooting that I was in love with you...and that I had screwed it all up." Her voice cracks and she wipes tears out from under her eyes, biting her lip until she can go on. "I have been miserable this past month. You're all that matters in my life right now, Maur, and I can't stand seeing you hate me so much."

I come back with a passionate tenacity, though it isn't anger-based, and Jane knows it. "Now you listen to me: I do not hate you, Jane Rizzoli, and I never did and never will. You're still my best friend, even if we've been...whatever Frost calls it, 'cat-fighting', the past few weeks. I lost sight of that briefly because of how hurt that I was, but I didn't have any right to get so angry..."

"You had every right to be angry...I shot your father-"

I interrupt her. "In self-defense and defense of your friends, you shot the man who donated the sperm that made me. Not my father." This stuns her, but I take it as the sign to continue. "And I didn't even check on you when I knew your father asked Angela to sign an annulment...or when your father visited you...or when-"

"Stop it, Maura. I deserved all of that. Your job isn't to make sure that I'm happy 24/7." She makes fierce eye contact with me.

"But I love you, Jane...It _is_ my job, in my eyes. I let you down..." A long pause goes on for about five minutes before I continue in a slightly lower and even more serious pitch. "I've had the same feelings for you too, Jane..." My eyes fill with tears. "And it was even more obvious when I realized that you didn't leave me in that car with the water coming behind us even though you were free and you knew I would slow you down considerably, maybe even get you killed still..." I reach for her hands again, taking them with both of mine and bringing them to my lips gently. "I owe you everything.."

Without missing a beat, Jane is back over beside me, except this time, I'm the one wrapping my arms around her as she sobs her dear little heart out. "Oh, Maura. I couldn't have left you...I love you, Maura..More than I love myself...I need you...Please forgive me..." I stroke her hair in turn, whispering how we were both jerks and that of course I forgive her if she will me into her ear while also planting a small kiss there.

"Of course I forgive you, Maura..." With that, I kiss her cheek, this time with a smile cast into her eyes. She returns it, though her eyes are still brimmed with un-shed tears.

"It's getting late...I think we've talked through our main problems...Everything else can be slept on and dealt with tomorrow." I state, standing up onto my good leg.

"Agreed. Do you need me to help you into your room?" She chivalrously comes over to my side, putting her arm around my waist to support me without even waiting for my answer. She guides me to my bedside, helping me lay down like Tommy and Frankie had done just a few hours before.

"Thank you, Jane." I smile warmly up at her. She asks if I need anything before heading towards the way out.

"Wait, Jane..." She stops in her tracks, and I motion her to come back for a moment. Slowly but surely, she makes her way over, standing right beside my nightstand. Without reconsidering, I tug her gently down by her arm and kiss her chastely on the lips in a brief and sweet manner. Her embarrassment is obvious as her face blushes fifty shades of red, so I go ahead and relieve her to go home. "Good night. I'm so glad we worked this out."

"Me too..." She walks to the door once more, turning back in the doorway just to more or less mouth words at me, though I know exactly what they were. "I love you...Sweet dreams."

"I love you too, Jane. _Bonsoir." _

_ "_Oh, yeah. Bone-swanson to you too." With a huge smile on her face followed by an eye roll from me, Jane walks out the door.

-The End-


End file.
